title: Excitatory amino acid levels in cerebrospinal fluid of patients with infantile spasms.
abstract: Infantile spasm is an age-specific epileptic encephalopathy. Long-term intellectual outcome of affected infants remains poor. The pathogenesis of infantile spasms, as well as the development of mental retardation, remains unclear. Increased excitatory amino acid neurotransmission may play a role in neuronal dysfunction and epilepsy. To study the significance of cerebrospinal fluid excitatory amino acids in infantile spasms, we determined glutamate and aspartate concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid of 13 patients with infantile spasms and 13 controls. The aspartate level in cerebrospinal fluid of the patients with infantile spasms (968 +/- 416 nmol/l) was higher than the control group (426 +/- 272 nmol/l). No difference in the mean glutamate levels was found between the patients (966 +/- 395 nmol/l) and the controls (1135 +/- 594 nmol/l). The elevated aspartate levels in cerebrospinal fluid of the patients with infantile spasms might be secondary to change in metabolism of aspartate. Aspartate is an excitatory and neurotoxic neurotransmitter, which might have a role in triggering the spasms and the development of neuronal dysfunctions in the patients with infantile spasms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, Ankara University, Turkey.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ince
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Karagöl
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Deda
mesh_terms: D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000378:metabolism; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D018846:Excitatory Amino Acids / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013036:Spasms, Infantile / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D014421:Turkey
chemical_list: D018846:Excitatory Amino Acids; D001224:Aspartic Acid; D018698:Glutamic Acid